Italian researchers found that waste tomato skin can be processed into environmentally friendly plastic bags

Barbara Nicholas, a researcher at the Pozzuoli Biomolecular Chemistry Institute affiliated with the Italian National Research Council, recently announced that a research team led by her research found in the study that abandoned tomato skins can be used to make biodegradable plastic bags. This is a major breakthrough in the group's research on recycling of waste generated from industrial processing of tomatoes.

On the same day, Nicholas introduced the results of this research to the Italian press. She said that people know that tomatoes can be processed into canned food products such as tomato sauce. However, about 40% of raw materials, including tomato peels and tomato seeds, are usually wasted as rubbish when processing tomatoes. During the research, the research team found that they extracted the compound saccharides from these abandoned tomato wastes, especially the tomato husks. After refining and purification, these substances could be converted into a series of biodegradable plastic products. This includes plastic bags that people often use for shopping and plastic films used in greenhouse tents used in agricultural fields.

This project was funded by the Italian government’s Ministry of Research and Education. Nicholas emphasized in particular that this project has achieved sustainable economic and environmental development. While ensuring the recycling and reuse of waste, it has also conserved the environment and saved resources. It has also reduced the cost of garbage collection and disposal, and can create more. The many potential job opportunities can be described as multiple benefits.

At present, this scientific research project is being tested in some enterprises in Naples, a city in southern Italy, and has achieved satisfactory results. Nicholas said that the recycling of tomato waste will be a huge "economic resource." Because Italy, as one of Europe's major agricultural countries, is a major producer of tomatoes in Europe, with an annual output of 6.1 million tons of tomatoes, it has a large number of tomato-related food processing companies.